2007/05/10
Kiangan pilots community-based monitoring system
KIANGAN, Ifugao (10 May) -- In line with the localization of the Millennium Development Goals, this municipality has adopted the community-based monitoring system (CBMS) as a strategy to achieve full development and prosperity.

2007/05/02
Social Watch participation at the first lunch of the new UN Deputy Secretary General with NGOs
On 2 May, 2007, sixteen representatives of Civil Society Organizations, including NGOs, met with the Deputy Secretary-General (DSG) of the United Nations, Ms. Ashe Rose Migiro at a luncheon co-hosted by the United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service (NGLS) and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES). The purpose of the meeting was to give an opportunity to NGOs to express their views on the report of the High-level Panel on UN System-Wide Coherence (“Delivering as one”). Cecilia Alemany (SW Secretariat) participated on behalf of Social Watch addressing some key questions from a Southern perspective.

2007/05/01
Launch of the Italian Social Watch Report 2006
Social Watch Italy organized several activities on occasion of the launching of the 2006 Report “Architettura Impossibile”. Areli Sandoval (Equipo Pueblo, SW Mexico), co-chair of the Coordinating Committee of Social Watch made a presentation on 2 May, at the Italian Parliament in Rome, with the presence of members of the European Parliament as well as Italian government representatives. On 3 May, a debate was organized at the Municipality of Florence, where the SW Report was launched with a strong message on the role of civil society in promoting social development and human rights.

2007/04/16
Intervention by Roberto Bissio at the special high-level meeting of the ECOSOC with the BWIs, the WTO and the UNCTAD
During the special high-level meeting of ECOSOC with the BWIs, the WTO and UNCTAD in New York on 16 April, Roberto Bissio defended innovative finance mechanisms against the attacks of the US and the business sector and the ambiguities of the European Union. Social Watch demands that the presidents and prime ministers come away from the Financing for Development summit in Doha next year with a political declaration and not just a no- consequences debate.

2007/04/14
India: 25% of the members of the Lok Sabha have criminal records
The arrest of an Indian Member of Parliament on a human-trafficking attempt became a dramatic example of an issue first raised by SW India: nearly 25 per cent of the members of the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) have criminal records. SW India’s Report was quoted in International Herald Tribune Asia-Pacific, The Indian Express, Bloomberg New York, Central Chronicle, Daily News & Analysis DNA, IOL.

2007/04/14
International Conference Reconciling Trade and Human Rights: The New Development Agenda
The Conference will be a unique opportunity to explore the ways in which a human rights framework can inform new strategies for trade, development and the eradication of poverty.

2007/03/28
GENDER EQUITY INDEX 2007: Countries Do Not Need to Be Rich to Treat Women Fairly
NEW YORK (Mar 6) - Rwanda, one of the poorest countries, has greater gender equity than the United States, where the status of women has significantly regressed.

So says a new study by Social Watch launched in the context of the 51st Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women held in New York February 26-March 9.

2007/03/07
Report of the Linking & Learning Programme on ESC Rights for the Latin America region
From 2nd to 10th November 2006 representatives from Latin American Human Rights organisations gathered in Quito, Ecuador, to attend a programme on economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR). More than 25 participants from civil society organisations attended the course and discussed issues like their rights to education, health, housing, food, and the conditions of life of afro-descendents, women, indigenous, children, farmers, disable people, amongst others, in the continent.

The course was organized by CDES Ecuador, COHRE, Dignity International, Equipo Pueblo Mexico and Social Watch.

2007/03/05
Did Malta deceives the World?
While EU figures rank Malta as the new member state with the highest percentage of its Gross National Income (GNI) given to international development aid, the local Social Watchers claim that this goal was achieved “deceptively”. SW Malta’s Report was quoted in: Maltastar.com

2007/03/02
Social Watch at WSF 2007: Workshop on Alternative budget and Budget monitoring
During the World Social Forum held in Nairobi, Social Watch organised a workshop focused on of how to monitor state budgets and how to develop feasible alternatives to them from a civil society point of view. More than 60 people participated to the discussion..